Premium cable channel Showtime drew a reported average of 412,000
viewers for its 10 p.m. ET live airing of the Strikeforce card,
which emanated from Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, and was
headlined by Dan
Henderson’s 205-pound title-winning, third-round knockout of
Rafael
“Feijao” Cavalcante.

That figure, reported by MMAJunkie.com, marks a significant decline
from Strikeforce’s last “major” event on Showtime. On Feb. 12,
Antonio
Silva’s upset of Fedor
Emelianenko garnered an average 741,000 viewers, a
record-breaking number for the organization. The “Feijao vs.
Henderson” rating also fell short of Nick Diaz’s
Jan. 29 welterweight title defense against Evangelista
“Cyborg” Santos, which drew an average of 561,000 viewers.

At 9 p.m. ET, Bellator notched 200,000 viewers on average for its
debut on new cable home MTV2. The 2-hour broadcast from the Tachi
Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif., featured all four
quarterfinals in the promotion’s fourth-season welterweight
tournament.

According to industry sources, Bellator 35 provided MTV2 with
boosts in several key advertising demographics. Ratings were up 83
percent among men ages 18 to 49, 80 percent among men 18-34, and
133 percent among men 25 to 34.